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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (60055)	12/5/2002 5:43:04 PM
From: carranza2	Respond to of 281500

Goldberg hits well on this piece. As Jim Carville might put it, "it's the separation of church and state, stupid." If a religion is a bloody, violent one, and many are to some extent or another, the rules and laws of civil society are the only means by which to rein in these baser impulses. However, if the state is identified with the religion's bloodier drives, there is nothing to curve them, regardless of how peaceful individual members of the religion might be. While Christianity in general does not have a peaceful history, it has evolved positively largely as a result of the fact that the civil and religious arenas have become separated in the West. The exclusive right to use violence now resides in the State, and is completely independent of religious considerations. While there are a few Islamic nations where this also prevails, Iraq comes to mind, the use of violence seems overwhelmingly to be related to religious considerations. Thus, a mix of nationalism and religion governs the reasons why an Islamic nation uses violence. This is simply insane as the use of force becomes a religious issue, not one based on self-interest, self-defense, or other more pragmatic considerations, as is the case in the West. The lack of separation between church and state in Islam is the reason why we have a clash of civilizations.